You would be forgiven for thinking, at first glance, that the love story between France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte, was par for the course. Like most romances, it starts off when boy meets girl, and in their case, in high school. Boy and girl fall in love, even though everyone is against it. Years later, boy marries girl. And even more years later that boy ends up becoming the president of France. Here’s the twist: The girl was that boy’s teacher.

Yes, the 64-year-old Brigitte, née Trogneux, first met Emmanuel, 39, when he was 15 and she was teaching an after-school drama program at his high school in the small town of Amiens. Back then, she was a married schoolteacher and had three kids, one of whom was a classmate of Emmanuel’s. He quickly fell for her, while Brigitte has said she was initially blown away by her student’s precociousness, saying, “I was totally overcome by the intelligence of this boy.” The two grew close, and when his parents found out, they sent him to finish school in Paris with the hope that he would forget about Brigitte. Instead, he promised he would marry her one day. (Très romantique!)

While most stories of star-crossed love would have ended there, Emmanuel kept his promise. In 2007, when he was 29 and she was divorced, Macron asked Brigitte’s children for her hand in marriage; they all gave their blessing. The two have been inseparable ever since, and their families all seem to get along pretty well. Brigitte’s daughter Tiphaine worked on Emmanuel’s presidential campaign, and according to reports, her seven grandchildren affectionately call Emmanuel “Daddy.”

While Brigitte (or more accurately, her age) has caused a stir around the world, those who keep up with French politics know she’s only the latest in a series of unconventional first ladies moving into the Élysée Palace. In 2008, there was Carla Bruni, the former model and musician whom then-President Nicolas Sarkozy publicly courted and later married just a few months after meeting her at a dinner party. And then came Valérie Trierweiler, a former Paris Match journalist who fell in love with politician François Hollande while he was still with his partner, Ségolène Royal. The two never married, but as Hollande’s partner, Trierweiler became France’s first lady in 2012. Only two years later, Trierweiler moved out of the Élysée Palace after it was revealed Hollande was sneaking off on secret rendezvous with another woman, actress Julie Gayet. How very French indeed.

Yet despite their scandalous predecessors, the Macrons’ 24-year age gap (which, it must be pointed out, is the same age difference between Donald and Melania Trump) has led to more than a few raised eyebrows, even among the unflappable French. The May-December relationship has led to rumors that Emmanuel is actually a closeted gay man, speculation that he laughed off during the campaign, accusing his critics of sexism. “If I was 20 years older than my wife, no one would have questioned it being a legitimate relationship,” he said to Le Parisien. “It’s only because my wife is 20 years older than me that people say it’s not tenable.” And he has a point. During last year’s American election, the vast difference in age between the Trumps rarely if ever came up as an issue. And when it was revealed Mick Jagger, 73, was having a baby with his 30-year-old girlfriend late last year, their 43-year age gap barely registered beyond a few tabloid items.

Rather than keeping their relationship low-profile, the Macrons have instead decided to fully embrace the spotlight, taking every opportunity to praise each other in public. “Without her, I wouldn’t be me,” he once said of her; she has stated she’s the “president of his fan club.” Now that he has won the election, all eyes are on what’s next. President Macron has already pledged he will appoint Brigitte to a public, unpaid position in his cabinet. “If I am elected—no, sorry, when we are elected—she will be there, with a role and a place,” he said told supporters before the election. Meanwhile, she’s managed to toss off some pretty great cracks of her own, having been quoted in a biography of the new president saying: “He needs to go for it in 2017, because by 2022 his problem will be my face.” A first lady who’s up to laugh at herself? Tell us more.